Journal zogger's Journal: China and Brazil 3
Another example of how china is taking the west's surplus cash it ships there, and turns around and invests heavily in places to get access to their natural resources, then they turn around and sell to them, developing new markets.
The developed world is going to be the late not so great de-developing world pretty soon now. China invests in Brazil
All these western economists go on and on how we don't need "protectionism"..well, why is it then with china being so protectionist, they are advancing at a record pace? Could it be that some protectionism is necessary to keep from going bankrupt?
"Chinese firms have bought stakes in Brazil's electrical grid; they are building steel mills, car plants and a telecommunications infrastructure in that country. Chinese grain companies are negotiating to buy huge tracts -- some larger than 600,000 acres -- of Brazilian outback to plant soybeans. Chinese firms have the inside track on landing a huge high-speed-rail contract. They want to help realize Brazil's gargantuan plans -- estimated at more than $250 billion -- to tap its offshore oil reserves. "
And they have all this investment money because our glorious leaders said we didn't need old fashioned manufacturing, oh noes, that is passe', that we would be some sort of combo financial services (90% high stakes casino games), IP (ideas=dime a dozen), service (we'll mow each other's yards and get rich!) and governmental workers (in a shrinking economy, by all means, quadruple the size of government as the first step, raise taxes on those still barely producing any real wealth, plus add a few trillion in debt!) economy.
Well, that mastermind theory sure has worked out just swell....and we still keep electing these people who let those pirates keep selling off what is left of the national seed corn for a fast buck. Corporate raiders, nation sized. Our political and economic "leaders"... When does this get to shift from just "sucky" to "treasonous" anyway? Oh, I guess that is passe' now as well, to be loyal to one's nation first.
And I can't blame China, they would have been stone idjits to not take the golden egg laying goose when it was offered. They are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing as a nation, looking out for themselves FIRST. After that, sure, get generous, but if you can't take care of affairs at home first, you won't have any "extra" to be generous with. You have to make wealth before you spend it, that's the real economic bottom line, and manufacturing is the top way to make wealth today, closely followed by agriculture and mining/natural resource extraction.
The big kahuna though, is the factory. Destroy your factories, you lose, end of story. You aren't replacing them with *anything*, that's the fairy tale they get people to believe in. Destroy your ag, you lose + starve, end of story. Sell off your natural resources cheap, fat city for some years..then you lose. You gain a few warlords who own a lot of yachts and limos and tanks and jet fighters eventually, that's about it for selling off natural resources cheap, that's the end game there.
Dime a dozen (Score:2)
No kidding. The problem isn't ideas, it's execution. And execution takes sweat. Ideas a dime a dozen? I think you're still too high-priced. They're free. They're all around. Any time there's a problem, there's a source for ideas - and we're far from out of problems.
Case in point - I got fed up with dealing with know-nothing recruiters, so I'm not just boycotting them, I'm working on a replacement [femmesenaffaires.com] that caters to all women, not just the ones that businesses are willing to spend
My 8c/day well spent* (Score:1)
And they ahve to eat
http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/selling-the-farm/part1/ [abc.net.au]
"Foreign interests including state-owned companies from China and the Middle East are increasingly looking to Australia to secure their food production by purchasing key agricultural assets.
The sale of agricultural land is exempt under Foreign Investment Review Board regulations and the FIRB's attention is usually triggered only by the sale of companies whose assets exceed a $231 million threshold.
In recent years, and especially si
food shortage 07-08 (Score:1)
There really wasn't a food shortage those years, there was a huge price increase due to commodities speculation. There were zillions of bushels, tons, tonnes, megapiles of food..it just got too expensive for a lot of people to purchase around the globe, because ownership gets locked up in the electronic trading market. There's no provision that buyers have to take actual physical delivery, the same shipload of corn can be bought and resold a buncha times by speculators...same with oil, anything else. The mi